Golden Orb Weaver

nephila maculate

I have blipped this species before, but it has been a while. I thought I may have left it too late as nearly all of my GOW's have vanished. I though perhaps a kid with a stick, but after a little research I find that they only live for a year or so in the wild. With this information, I estimate more like 15 months, as they were mating back in June and they seem to live on after mating.

Also, on another forum, I read a guys diary of keeping one of this type of spider and he recorded that the female actually feeds the spiderlings for a couple of months. He was unable to get the spiderlings to feed themselves for about three months and the one surviving spiderling died after a year.

Nephilia are amongst the largest spiders in the world, if you don't take into account mass and just compare leg spans. The one I had in captivity many years ago, had a longest leg of 105mm. Some of the spiders that I have seen here over the last year, I would estimate more like 120mm and having a relaxed leg span of about 6 - 7 inches and a body length of 1.75 inches..

Nephilia is a common species, found all over the world, limited to warmer climates. All spiders are poisonous, but this one, like most spiders, is no more dangerous than a bee sting. They are not aggressive and will scamper away if disturbed.

Called golden orb weavers because of the golden hue of their webs. The GOW web is often huge. Wiki quotes 1m diameter, but I regularly see webs spanning trees 4m, a web the size of your front door is fairly common. The spider builds one web and maintains it, so you can return as many times as you like and the spider will be there.

I have collected images of several variants of nephilia and haven't identified some of them. A scary looking spider, but not one you are likely to walk into, unless you are off the beaten track. The webs that you walk into are from spiders that build new every night.

I could write pages on this spider, but I will call it a day here.

Yesterday's blip of Maman, a farmer I see daily, was actually talking and joking with his mate, who was crouched down in the paddy, tying off some water bamboo, hence the head angle. So no heavy thinking going on after all.

Dave